The Brave Little Tailor
By Staff Writer

"So the fashion show went well? I was thinking maybe we should have the kids do the limbo too," Bubble Gum Playhouse producer Kathi Mallec, trails off as she turns to greet another of the families filing out of the theater after the show. Mallec and her group have been producing children's shows in the Los Angeles area for about a year now, but this is opening day for their latest, The Brave Little Tailor, and she wants to make sure everyone's enjoying themselves.

And they are. Even if some of the kids are too shy to participate, they all seem enthralled by the Bubble Gum Playhouse's lightheartedly loose adaptation of the Brothers Grimm story.

And it wasn't half bad for the grownups either - while the show is all about the kids, the actors make sure to squeeze in some jokes for the parents too.

The Brave Little Tailor is built around audience participation - in the opening act, the enthusiastic Leslie Pennick warms up the crowd with an interactive monologue. Riffing on the play's main theme - bravery, Pennick asks the kids what they think is brave and provides an example by asking them to join her on stage to sing "Itsy Bitsy Spider." She concludes by bringing out her tuba for a fine rendition of "Itsy Bitsy Teeny Weeny Yellow Polka Dot Bikini."

The show provides the children with many chances to come up to the stage. In addition to the fashion show - the kids are asked to help Tina the Tailor drum up business for her failing shop by modeling her clothes - they also get to pick sides and be cheerleaders for Tina and Grindel (Ahem. Gigantor the Giant!) as the pair compete for the position of Village Giant - as I said, this is a loose adaptation; more fractured fairy tale than the Brothers Grimm. Predictably, most of the girls were for Tina and the boys were solidly in Grindel's camp, but they all shook their pompoms with equal enthusiasm.

Even when the kids are in their seats, the actors roll well with whatever their often-unpredictable audience throws at them. When one girl insisted that Tina the Tailor hadn't really hit a fly she swatted at, the actress (Georgia Van Cuylenburg) responded, "I didn't? Oh no! Where is it?" and tried to swat it again before continuing with her plans to save her shop.

Because it's a fairy tale, The Brave Little Tailor ends happily. Because it's a fractured fairy tale, it ends with the tailor and the giant going into business together - they team up and make a fortune to design big and tall clothes. And then the kids get a final chance to flood the stage and greet the actors and collect autographs.

Mallec and her partner, Lynda Drewry, created The Bubble Gum Playhouse 15 years ago in Nashville, where they spent years producing interactive children's plays. The Bubble Gum Playhouse went on hiatus after their theater was sold and Mallec moved to California. "It hit me last year that there wasn't a lot of children's theatre in Los Angeles," Mallec explains, "and I thought that perhaps the goofy, fun and interactive shows we did (in Nashville might) just work again."

In the past year, Mallec and her group have produced adaptations of several well-known fairy tales, along with a few original stories. Upcoming shows include takes on The Three Little Pigs, Rapunzel, and Little Red Riding Hood. Over the next few weeks though, The Bubble Gum Playhouse will continue to experiment with The Brave Little Tailor until they're sure that everything's running smoothly. Next week, the kids may even get to try out the limbo contest.

Even without that though, good times were had by all.

The Brave Little Tailor will be at the Whitefire Theatre in Sherman Oaks March 1 to April 26. Shows are every Saturday at 10:00 am.